Straw Bale Gardening

Straw bale gardening has been around for years. Amazingly so, there are people who have never heard of this concept. I, too had never heard of it and was very skeptical. My sister e-mailed me several articles that she found on the Internet and I decided to give it a try. I am now happy to report that even though it is the first of September, I am still getting tomatoes and peppers off of my vines. Straw bale gardening might be stereotyped as the "lazy" gardener because it suggests that you will have a lot less bending and stooping and very little to no weeds to deal with. I tried both the straw bale gardening and the traditional gardening this summer and I have been very pleased with my straw bales. I followed the instructions exactly as they were given to me, using plants instead of seeds and have no weeds and my knees are very thankful because I have not had to stoop or bend very far to tend to my garden. My traditional garden has long dried up albeit for a few green tomatoes, but my straw bale garden is still thriving as you can see from the photo I took. I cannot promise you that you will have the success with it that I did, but again, I too was skeptical but decided to try it anyway. There was a brief period of time when I had grass growing in them and I almost gave up, especially when being teased by my family and friends of having a "grass garden", but the grass eventually withered away and I have been left with a very gorgeous, bountiful straw bale garden. I have outlined the steps below as described in the website, www.beginner-gardening.com/straw-bale-gardening.html.

1. Begin with tightly strung straw bales. Four bales were used in my garden. Place your straw bales where you would like them to stay, since when they become wet they will slowly begin to break down, the strings may loosen or break and you may need to place a few stakes around them to hold them together. Mine have only broken down slightly and I have not had to do this.

2. Wet the straw bales down for the first three days, watering them down a couple of times a day. I watered mine once in the morning and once in the evening.

3. On the fourth through seventh days, do nothing. The bales will heat up and begin to "cook" as they begin to decompose.

4. After the seventh day, place a layer of soil (use a weed free, compost soil mixture) on top of the bales. I placed about an inch to an inch and a half of soil followed by a "misting" of water.

5. Plant your seeds or transplants. If using plants, use a trowel to push the soil back far enough to put your plant in the bales. Be careful not to break the strings. I used four tomato plants in one bale, six pepper plants in another bale and then repeated for the other two bales.

6. Water daily. Straw does not hold as much water as soil so it is very important to water daily, especially in the hot summer months in between rainy days.

7. Use a substance such as Miracle Gro about every week or so to promote growth and to supplement the nutrients in your soil. I generally used Miracle Gro about once every two weeks for the first month or so and then dropped back to using the Miracle Gro periodically after that.

Straw bale gardening is a unique way to grow beautiful vegetables and flowers especially if you have back and knee problems, have limited space or just want to try something new. It is a great feeling to go around the side of the house and pick fresh vegetables and not have to worry about weeds, insects or a nagging backache after wards. It is a fun way to garden and is very rewarding.